Best and worst ATMs abroad

21 February 2018

ATMs are invaluable financial means for those who frequently travel abroad. Its significance becomes much bigger when traveling to the countries of the third world where cash is accepted wider in comparison to Visa or MasterCard. Moreover, in certain cases, it becomes the only payment option. Therefore, they should be able to encash their funds using ATMs. In this article, we’ve attempted to provide useful information for people found on a journey by comparing the best ATMs abroad and those not too good.

In this regard, owners of the cards reasonably seek the best ATM services offered by their banks abroad and avoid using ATMs charging higher rates. One thing is unavoidable – almost all banks charge fees for withdrawing money from ATMs, especially from those owned by other banks. Such fees vary from one bank to another. Some banks may charge less on withdrawals but more for using other types of banking services. Others may charge a bigger withdrawal fee, but provide discounts for other services.

Nationwide

Among the banks that provide the most favorable ATM withdrawal services, one can count the UK-based Nationwide for sure. According to many surveys, until recently, Nationwide had the lowest withdrawal fees. Even after introducing 0.84% charge for using cards outside Europe, its debit cards still remain free of charge in terms of ATM processing. It even does not charge fees for transactions which are usually charged by other banks at the amount of £1.50. The USA is another country where Nationwide cards are the cheapest to withdraw money using an ATM.

Lloyds

On the other hand, the British banks Lloyds TSB and Barclays are considered to have the highest level of charges for ATM withdrawals. For instance, Lloyds TSB, having the biggest number of account holders in Britain, charges its customers about 5% withdrawal fees when they travel abroad and use ATMs to encash their funds. For foreign exchange, Lloyds TSB charges 2.99% fee in addition to 1.5% cash processing fee up to £4.50 per each transaction.

Barclays

Charges set by Barclays are 2.75% commission rate and 2% cash processing fee or maximum £4.50 per withdrawal using ATMs. HSBC, another bank popular among people, usually charges 2.75% foreign exchange fee and ATM fee on top of it. However, it would cost less for HSBC clients to make payments abroad directly using their debit cards, which would cost less than withdrawing money from an ATM.

Bank of Internet

As for American banks with the best ATM withdrawal options, there are plenty of such banks. The one is Bank of Internet USA that charges no fees for using ATMs within the USA and even reimburses any fees charged by another bank owning the ATM. It provides unlimited fee reimbursements for accounts such as Rewards Checking, CashBack Checking, and Essential Checking. On an international level, it charges 2% ATM withdrawal fee and the same amount is charged for buying things using the bank’s debit card.

Alliant Credit Union

Alliant Credit Union is a large bank headquartered in Chicago. It owns ATMs network and participated in a bigger ATMs network like Allpoint, Alliance One, Credit Union, Publix Presto, and many other networks. That means that Alliant customers are able to make use of over 80,000 ATMs that are free of charge when it comes to paying withdrawal fees. However, for the bank’s customers willing to withdraw money when they travel abroad, it deducts 1% fee.

Charles Schwab

Charles Schwab Bank is actually an investment company located in San-Francisco, USA. However, its customers can use Schwab Bank High Yield Investor Checking Account when opening a Schwab One brokerage account. Among favorable conditions offered by the bank, one can note that it does not charge ATM fees and reimburses any ATM fees charged abroad. There are many other investment companies that provide similar services, however, their offer is limited with the USA, while Schwab is offering them on an international level.

Citibank

Citibank is the fourth-biggest bank in the USA and it is also popular for providing a large network of local ATMs that do not require any fees for withdrawing money. In addition to its own 2,400 ATMs in different branches across the country, it is a member of Allpoint with 43,000 ATMs and MoneyPass having 25,000 cash machines. Besides, the bank has ATMs in over 20 countries all over the world where its customers can withdraw their money for 3% foreign exchange fee.

In conclusion, it should be noted that the majority of banks allow fee-free ATM withdrawals, even for its customers traveling abroad. Many banks participate in larger ATM networks and it lowers withdrawal fees for customers of those banks. Therefore, when joining any bank before leaving for another country, it is reasonable to compare all pros and cons of services offered by banks, for instance, decide what is more important in such a case, relying on ATM fee reimbursements or local networks, whose branches are available abroad.